A Questionable Client
General A novella, chronologically the first story in the Kate Daniels series. It was released for the first time in the Dark and Stormy Nights anthology. It was included also in Magic Graves. It takes place in the February before Magic Bites and is set in Atlanta. Summary Kate Daniels is in the Mercenary Guild locker room, changing after a particularly pungent gig where Jim had bailed on her. A magic wave hits, making her boots even more fragrant. Mark comes in, offering her a blue ticket gig as she is licensed for bodyguard detail and there is no-one else available. The gig seems suspicious as Castor and Rodriguez are currently there and bailing, but as it's only one night's work and worth three grand, Kate accepts. Kate arrives at Champion Heights on Peggy since the magic is up and the car she drove into Atlanta from Savannah won't work. After checking with 158, the client's apartment, a guard lets her in the building and up to the fifteenth floor. Castor and Rodriguez leave quickly once Kate arrives, explaining briefly that the client is chained to the bed. After a quick check of the place, Kate finds the client, Saiman, heavily chained to the bed. He won't explain why his previous guards have put him there so Kate won't release him. He shifts shape from an average looking man to a blond Adonis, surprising Kate. The transformation process itself is not a pretty sight and even in his new form Saiman's stomach is bloated. Kate finishes her check of the apartment and returns to Saiman with a glass of water. She quizzes him on the apartment's security measures and whether he is pregnant. He denies this saying he is male and cannot produce viable eggs. He will not explain from whom she is to protect him but does say it is personal and not a contract job. He is asking Kate to make him a sandwich when they hear a noise from the living room. In the living room, Kate finds a creature coming in through the air duct, recognising it as the normally peaceful endar and realising Saiman has somehow annoyed the Russians. Kate fights them using her saber, Slayer. Kate returns to the bedroom carrying the last of the endars. She uses him to threaten Saiman into telling her just what he has done to piss off the volhvs. He explains he has stolen the acorn from the World Oak. The acorn will manifest into an oak in less than 5 hours and Saiman wishes to ask a question of the cat. Kate is to protect him from teh volhvs until he can do so. Kate sighs and offers to make him that sandwich. After Saiman then explains that the acorn causes involuntary changes in his shape and that is why Castor chained him to the bed, Kate releases him. Saiman changes into another masculine shape, bigger, in an attempt to attract Kate. It doesn't work. They walk into teh living room which has been destroyed by the blood of the thirty seven creatures Kate had to kill. Saiman tries to figure out why Kate is not interested in him. She asks about his work and he informs her he is a consultant that earns thirty six hundred per hour. They discuss the ethics of sleeping with a bodyguard's "body". Saiman is impressed by Kate and wonders why she is not known as one of the Guild's top performers. She tells Saiman it is because her territory is outside of the city, in a quiet enough area, whereas the truth is Kate just doesn't want to draw attention to herself. They hear a noise at the door so Kate send Saiman into the bedroom. Kate feels pressure to leave the apartment, she bites her lip and the magic in her blood releases her from the spell. She identifies the new threat as a Badzula. Saiman comes out of the bedroom, he is under the Badzula's spell, so Kate tackles him to the ground. She asks him if he stocks water-lily which he does in his lab. As Kate gets up to fetch it, she punches Saiman in the face to knock him out. Kate gets the herb and throws it out in the corridor, making the Badzula materialise so Kate slices her head off with her sword. Saiman is still out cold so Kate goes to make herself a coffee. Kate is drinking her coffee when a volhv appears on Saiman's tv. He wants Saiman to let him wife, Yulya, go. He will make contact again in a half an hour. Kate nudges Saiman awake and questions him about Yulya. He responds while making himself an energy shake, confessing that he married the volhv, Evgenii, as Yulya in order to get access to the acorn. He picked up Evgenii's ritual arrow and seduced him, knowing his preferences as he had also slept with him as two different prostitutes. Kate is disgusted at his behaviour and says she'll never work for him again. Saiman argues that she will if the price is right and offers Kate a week of sex with him in whatever form she wants, and he'll tell no-one her fantasies. She rejects him. At this stage, Evgenii returns to the tv screen, and Saiman, who is eager to return to the discussion with Kate, brutally tranforms into Yulya and tells Evgenii it was always him, and that he was also Siren and Alyssa. Evgenii is heartbroken and his image disappears. Kate is angry with Saiman and argues that she could never trust Saiman so therefore could never sleep with him. Saiman debates that with the correct physical stimulus, she will. Saiman starts to convulse. The oak is coming and they must get to the roof, to ensure there is no cave-in. As they move a scratch at the window announces a hovala which attacks. As Kate battles, Saiman flees the apartment and goes to the roof. Kate follows and is attacked by a woman once she opens the roof door. She cuts the woman down and goes after the man attacking Saiman. She is stopped by others who recognise her as Voron's kid. They tell her Pavel is entitled as his son has just thrown himself off the roof. Kate advances and as Pavel slices Saiman's stomach she manages to catch the acorn which falls out. Saiman then stabs Pavel in the eye with a pencil killing him. The acorn transforms and rolls off Kate's hand. Saiman howls with rage. The volhvs go to one side of the roof while Kate and Saiman stay beside the door. An oak expands in the middle of the roof and a large cat walks down the metal chain on the tree. The cat asks Kate what question she would like answered. As Kate was the last one to hold teh acorn the right is hers. She asks “Would you like some milk?”. She knows that there is always a cost to such question and this way all it cost was a bit of milk. Peters comes to relieve Kate in the morning though the volhvs have all left following the deaths of Pavel and Evgenii. Saiman has locked himself in his bedroom, sulking. Kate heads back with Peggy to the Guild where the Clerk gives her her money for the gig. Kate is surprised, especially when the Clerk adds that the client would like to work exclusively with Kate from now on. As Kate leaves the Guild, a tall lean attractive man walks by. Kate recognises him as Saiman. Saiman wants to win the bet with Kate that he can find a form she will sleep with him in, so he offers her a sixty per cent discount. She laughs and keeps walking. Characters Met & Mentioned *Kate Daniels *Saiman *The Clerk *Mark *Mac *Jim *Gina Castro *Rodriguez *Peggy *Pavel Semyonov *Evgenii Semyonov *Voron *Peters Themes Russian Mythology